


if only you walk long enough

by TrimberlyDwarves



Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: F/F, its ANGST TIME
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-25 21:05:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 3,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13221231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrimberlyDwarves/pseuds/TrimberlyDwarves
Summary: Kim wakes up one day and something's not right.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> dis for shay. i love u ^^

On one out of seven days of the week, Kimberly Hart sat in the detention room of Angel Grove High School. Sometimes the boys would throw notes at her head and she’d have to try and catch them without the teacher noticing. It was supposed to be completely silent from the start of detention to the end, but those stupid notes made her crack up so much, she had to struggle to keep it all in.

On three out of seven days of the week, Kim showed up at the entrance to the buried ship for regularly scheduled ranger training sessions. They sparred with each other and sometimes staged mock battles with the simulation putties. Even though Rita was gone, and the practice was grueling, Kim always felt like she was on top of the world when she left the ship, hand-in-hand with Trini, the boys messing around behind them.

On five out of seven days of the week, Kim went to school from eight to three. She got to see Trini in one class and Jason in another and everyone was together during lunch. They talked and laughed and Kim did well in most of her classes, and it all made her feel happier than she’d ever been in her life.

 

 

But on seven out of seven days of the week, Kimberly Hart returned home, tried to win even the tiniest bit of attention from her parents, and instead went to bed feeling empty and alone.


	2. Chapter 2

It was Tuesday. That meant when Kim went outside after school and headed towards the parking lot, Trini would be waiting there for her. Sure enough, she was leaning against Kim’s car, her eyes closed and arms crossed. When Kim got closer she peeked open one eye, a grin forming on her face.

“Hello,” said Kim.

“Hi,” said Trini, walking up to Kim. She put her arms inside the flaps of Kim’s jacket and hugged her tight.

Kim hugged her back. Five seconds turned to ten, then thirty. Trini was still hugging her.

“So are we gonna stay here forever?” she asked.

“Five more seconds,” Trini said into her shirt.

Usually Kim didn’t like it when people touched her for too long. But obviously this was Trini so she got a free pass.

They got in the car and Kim drove them to the nearby bubble tea place, as promised. They bought little snacks to go along with the tea and found a booth all to themselves in the back of the cozy little shop. Trini told jokes and talked about everything and Kim thought her face was going to get sore from how much she smiled and laughed.

When they finished their food and drink Trini got up to leave, but Kim grabbed her by the wrist.

“Can I go back to your place?” she asked. “I’m…not ready to go home yet.”

For a split second, Trini frowned, but it went away just as quickly and she smiled instead. “Sure. I can just tell my family we’re studying or something. Whether or not we actually study is up to you.”

Kim laughed. “Okay. Let me text my—my parents—”

She fumbled to get her phone out of her pocket. Then she sent a text that just asked if she could stay at Trini’s for a while longer.

“Alright,” said Kim. She stood up. “Let’s go!”

She let Trini drive her car this time. Every few minutes she checked her phone for a reply from her parents.

Even though she had been expecting to get no response, it still stung, seeing her message left unread like that.


	3. Chapter 3

If Kim said that her parents totally ignored her she would be lying though.

They still drove her to Saturday detention and stuff, and if she needed anything from school signed they did. Otherwise for the most part they seemed to just pretend like she didn’t exist, always going out on business trips and work parties or whatever.

When she did get noticed however it was because she fucked up enough to inconvenience her parents. Like that time she impulse cut off her hair in the school bathroom during detention. Or when she was doing the dishes after a particularly exhausting training session, and accidentally broke one of her mom’s favorite plates.

Then she got yelled at. It wasn’t fun.

Ever since she was a little kid she tried to excel in school, in sports, in anything, just so she could see her parents beam at her, or maybe say Congratulations! or I’m proud of you sweetie. Except they never did. They only paid her any attention when she did bad things.

She became the best damn cheerleader Angel Grove ever saw only for her parents to never show up at any game. And they only intervened when all of that started going downhill.

Sometimes Kim wondered if it would be more worth it to just give up and keep doing things to piss them off.

Yeah her parents would be mad at her but at least they would talk to her, right? At least they would feel some emotion other than total apathy towards their own kid.


	4. Chapter 4

Unfortunately she couldn’t keep avoiding going home every single day without at least one of the rangers catching on.

It happened when Zack called her out one day for always being out on the trails behind the gold mine.

“Don’t you ever go home?” he said. Kim figured he meant it as a joke, because he was smiling, but she felt her breath catch in her throat.

Then Trini noticed her reaction and because they spent so much time after school together she must have pieced it together.

“What’s going on?” she asked Kim one day after practice.

Kim jumped because she had wanted to avoid this conversation. “What’s going on with what?” she said back.

Trini crossed her arms, and stepped in front of Kim, forcing her to stop. “Don’t play dumb with me. How come you never want to go home?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Kim, a little desperately. “I’m fine. I just like being outside, you know, it’s really not a big deal—”

“Kim.”

Just like that, Kimberly started crying.

Thank god the boys had already left. Trini’s eyes widened and she immediately moved in to wrap her arms around Kim. She let Kim bury her face into her shoulder and cry and cry until she didn’t have any more tears left.

It took a while. Trini waited with her the whole time.

“That bad, huh?” she said softly.

“I’m sorry,” said Kim, rubbing at her eyes. “I’ve never actually—I don’t usually cry about it—”

“Hey. It’s okay,” said Trini. She tilted Kim’s chin up and stared hard into her eyes. “It’s alright. I’m glad you let it out for once.”

“I just wish they would notice me. I hate waking up alone in the house. I hate going home and it’s either empty or I don’t exist. I hate it.”

Trini’s expression hardened. It took a few seconds for Kim to realize it wasn’t directed at her.

“I’m coming to your house tomorrow morning,” Trini said, with so much conviction that Kim was taken aback. “I’m going to give you all the attention you deserve. I’ll make you smile and laugh and feel happy because Kim, you are so wonderful and you don’t deserve to be treated like you’re worth nothing, because you are worth everything.”

Kim started crying again after that, but it was because she was so grateful that Trini existed in her life.


	5. Chapter 5

The next day Kim woke up and the first thing she noticed was that the house smelled like breakfast.

That didn’t make any sense. She always had to make breakfast for herself so who the hell was cooking in her house?

Maybe Trini had somehow broken in and was now making food for her?

She threw on some clothes and stumbled downstairs, only to be jolted wide awake when she saw her dad at the stove and her mom reading a book at the kitchen table.

“Good morning, sweetheart!” her mom said, looking up from her book and smiling at her. “Dad’s making you your favorite. Pancakes with strawberries, right?”

“It’ll be done in two minutes,” her dad said.

Kim just barely suppressed the urge to let her mouth fall open, but she still had to pinch her cheek to check and see if she was dreaming.

When they noticed she wasn’t responding, just standing their frozen in shock, they began to get concerned. “Are you alright, darling?” asked her mom.

“Yeah, uh,” Kim managed to say, “uh, what’s going on here?”

“What do you mean?” said her dad. “We’re just making you breakfast like usual. Is something wrong?”

Like usual?

What the hell was going on?

“You usually…pretend like I don’t exist,” said Kim.

The look of surprise and hurt on her parents’ faces was definitely genuine. Something was wrong here. “Have we been neglecting you? We’re very sorry,” said her mom. “Would you like us to drive you to school today?”

“I—uh—” Kim forced herself to get it together. “Yes. I would love that.”

So they did. And they actually talked with her. They made her laugh and asked her about her classes and her friends and how she liked it at school.

When she got used to this strange niceness she could feel her heart swelling. Her parents loved her. Her parents wanted to hear about her life and wanted to support her.

Her parents loved her.


	6. Chapter 6

She tried to text Trini about her parents’ sudden 180 degree shift in attitude when she got to school but for some reason her number wasn’t in Kim’s phone. She shrugged it off and went to class. She’d get the chance to talk to her in biology or during lunch.

But she didn’t, because in biology they had a lecture and Trini never looked her way once, and Kim had to make up a test she’d missed during lunch.

So by the time she went home from school she hadn’t made any sort of contact with any of the rangers, not even the boys. It stressed her out. She was so used to them being in nearly every aspect of her life that it was throwing her off.

But her parents were waiting for her behind the door she was standing in front of. They would shower her in love, maybe. And she would be happy.

Sure enough they greeted her happily when she entered the house. Her mom cooked dinner for her and afterwards they offered to take her out on a movie night, just the three of them as a family.

Kim could have cried with happiness.

She smiled for the rest of the night until she drifted off into sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

The next few days passed in mostly the same fashion. Her parents were always there in the morning and when she came home from school, and they were always nice and loving and supportive. Kim basked in the attention they gave her, her heart bursting with how happy they made her feel.

But the odd thing was she still never talked to Jason, Billy, Zack, or Trini. She couldn’t find any of their numbers in her phone, and they never showed up in the cafeteria during lunch either. It was weird, and Kim was starting to get a little nervous because she hadn’t been in contact with them for a while.

On Thursday though, they had a practice session. And there was no way Kim could miss them then. So when it was Thursday she asked her parents to drop her off at the back of the gold mine, telling them that she needed to do a project for Environmental Science, and they did.

She waved goodbye to them and headed towards the cliff where the ship was buried underneath.

Five minutes later, she was at the entrance to the pit, and the others were all already there, testing their strength against a wave of putties.

“Hey, guys!” said Kim excitedly. Her heart began to beat faster when she caught sight of Trini, and she raised her hand in greeting.

But then they all turned to her and their expressions were filled with disgust.

“What are you doing here?” Jason asked her flatly.

The smile dropped right off of Kim’s face. “W-what?” she asked.

“Thought we told you not to come back anymore,” said Zack. He was glaring at her, all of them were glaring at her, even Billy.

“Guys, what’s going on?” Kim said, a little desperately. “Did I do something wrong?”

She thought that maybe this was just a huge prank, and that any second now Zack would burst out laughing and say Just kidding! We love you, now let’s get back to training! But he never did. They just kept staring at her like she was a maggot or something.

“Do you really need to ask that question?” said Billy. And coming from Billy, that really hurt. Really bad.

But what hurt the most is when Trini walked up to her.

And she said, “You’re not one of us anymore. So get out.”


	8. Chapter 8

It was one week later and her parents still loved her and the rangers still hated her.

She didn’t know what had happened but maybe it was some sort of freak accident or she had fallen into a second dimension, or maybe this was just a really long terrible nightmare.

She started faking being sick, so she could stay at home, and then her parents would stay at home too and fuss over her and make her feel loved.

And she was happy. Kim was happy because she was finally getting the attention she longed for from her parents.

But at the cost of losing the rangers?

She curled up into a tiny ball in the corner of her room, feeling like the air around her was pushing in on her, constricting her.

She was happy.

Her parents were giving her love and affection and attention and that was the only thing she’d ever wanted in life.

She was happy.

Right?


	9. Chapter 9

Kim managed to corner Trini one day after school, but the scathing look she was giving her almost made Kim let her go.

“What the hell is your problem?” said Trini. “What do you want from me?”

“Look,” said Kim, feeling her heart break into a tiny million pieces, “listen, please, just hear me out. I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know what I’ve done wrong and I don’t know why you guys hate me. But…you used to like me. My parents used to hate me. Now it’s all flip flopped and I can’t understand why and I’m just really confused and if you would just give me an explanation I’ll stop bothering you. Please.”

If possible, Trini’s expression only soured further, and the fact that it was directed at Kim made it a thousand times worse.

“You’ve got a lot of nerve trying to ask for mercy from me,” said Trini. “Now like I told you before, you’re not one of us anymore. Leave, Kim. Run back to your parents.”

So that was what Kim did, with tears streaming down her face.

Her parents comforted her, tried to ask her what was wrong, but she couldn’t make any words form. But she was grateful for their concern.


	10. Chapter 10

She was happy.

Her parents made her happy.

That was all she had ever wished for, for eighteen years of her life.

Right?

She was happy. She was happy.

Two weeks later Kim asked if she could talk to her mom and dad.

So they sat down at the kitchen table and her parents looked at her with concern and love, and Kim finally spoke.

“This is going to sound crazy,” she said, her voice hoarse, “but let’s just say. Hypothetically. If I could go to an alternate dimension where you two hated me, but my friends didn’t. Would it be worth it?”

“Honey, we would never hate you,” said her mom. The mere idea seemed to fill her with pain.

“Hypothetically,” Kim repeated weakly. “Hypothetically. I’d have friends who love me. But I wouldn’t have parents who did.”

“So are you asking us if you should choose between your friends or your family?” asked her dad.

“Yeah,” said Kim. “Yeah…I guess.”

There was a brief moment of silence at the kitchen table.

“It’s all up to you,” said her mom. “Obviously we’d like for you to choose us, but it’s your life. You need to surround yourself with people who make you the happiest. That’s what’s most important.”

“Oh,” said Kim.

“Your mother is right,” her dad agreed. “You make the decision. Which one makes you think that life is worth living?”

“Oh,” said Kim again.

Her parents smiled at her.


	11. Chapter 11

That night Kim stayed up well past midnight, wide awake, thinking and thinking and thinking.

If she could choose, who would she pick?

Her friends, the Power Rangers, or her mom and dad?

She tossed and turned.

Then she got up and pulled out a quarter from her piggy bank. She read somewhere that if she couldn’t make a decision, then flipping a coin would help.

Maybe she’d know the answer before it even decided for her.

So she balanced the coin in her thumb, and closed her eyes, and imagined her parents shouting with joy at her graduation. She imagined them attending every single football game and holding up signs that said GO KIMBERLY! and taking her out to restaurants to celebrate her achievements.

Then she imagined Trini smiling at her.

She imagined Zack laughing so hard he kept pounding her on the back, and Billy’s bright, hopeful expression when she explained something to him that he didn’t understand, and poking fun and pulling pranks with Jason.

 

She imagined kissing Trini.

Which one would she choose?

Kim flipped the coin.

Trini. Mom. Dad. The rangers.

When the coin hit the ground, she had her answer.


	12. Chapter 12

The next day the house was empty again.

Kim went about in the kitchen pouring some milk and cereal for herself when the doorbell rang. She opened it up and Trini was standing on the doorstep, her hands tucked into her pocket, her hair blowing to the side a little in the light breeze.

“Hey,” she said, and Kim felt her chest grow warm.

“Hello,” she said back.

Kim sat on the counter while Trini fed her breakfast and played with her jacket. Trini made Kim smile and laugh and the morning was peaceful.

When they left for school, holding hands and fingers intertwined, Kim decided that it was all worth it.

She couldn’t have everything she wanted in life. But maybe the rangers, maybe Trini was enough.


End file.
